All posts tagged ‘boba fett’

Perry White has his “Great Caesar’s ghost!” Doc Brown has his “Great Scott!” Fallout Boy has “Jiminy jillikers!” And the characters in the Harry Potter stories are fond of “Merlin’s beard!” Yes, a good, solid swear phrase is always good to have ready for those times when you feel the need to yell, but don’t want to say anything inappropriate in front of young ears.

Here, then, are ten geeky oaths that, to our knowledge, have never been used before. We offer them, royalty-free, to the geek community at large. Use them in good health, with or without a “great” in front of them (which you should probably reserve for extreme situations).

1. “Riker’s beard!” – It really was hard to take Jonathan Frakes seriously that first season of TNG, and it wasn’t entirely because his uniform was a bit too tight. He just looked a bit too much like an overgrown boy scout, and the beard really did help a lot. We think that makes it a suitable subject for swearing.

2. “Cesar Romero’s mustache!” - You know, the one he refused to shave off to play Joker in the old Adam West Batman TV show and movie, so they simply covered it up with white makeup and hoped for the best.

3. “Coulton’s Zendrum!” - If you’ve seen JoCo play “Mr. Fancy Pants” in the last few years, you know what we’re talking about. If you haven’t, seek enlightenment.

You know what makes just about any plant grow better? Sure, some fertilizer, plenty of sun and water will do wonders, but I’m willing to bet nothing would beat this Boba Fett planter sculpture from London, Ontario artist Darryl Besch and his db studios. Buried deep in the basement and sheltered from all sunlight, nothing grows in my office, but I could see one of these replacing the bowl I use for all those promotional thumb drives I’ve been accumulating over the years. well, maybe the Micro SD card collection —this Boba is only five inches tall.

You can check out more of Darryl’s unique, pop culture influenced terracotta pot sculptures here, including designs inspired by Batman, Superman, Alice in Wonderland and others. Better yet, you can buy one through his Etsy store. And for those who have youngsters still working through those alphabet fundamentals, one of Darryl’s whimsical “Starts With A” series of customized paintings (also available on Etsy) would make a pretty cool decoration for the nursery or playroom.

Perry White has his “Great Caesar’s ghost!” Doc Brown has his “Great Scott!” Fallout Boy has “Jiminy jillikers!” And the characters in the Harry Potter stories are fond of “Merlin’s beard!” Yes, a good, solid swear phrase is always good to have ready for those times when you feel the need to yell, but don’t want to say anything inappropriate in front of young ears.

Here, then, are ten geeky oaths that, to our knowledge, have never been used before. We offer them, royalty-free, to the geek community at large. Use them in good health, with or without a “great” in front of them (which you should probably reserve for extreme situations).

1. “Riker’s beard!” – It really was hard to take Jonathan Frakes seriously that first season of TNG, and it wasn’t entirely because his uniform was a bit too tight. He just looked a bit too much like an overgrown boy scout, and the beard really did help a lot. We think that makes it a suitable subject for swearing.

2. “Cesar Romero’s mustache!” - You know, the one he refused to shave off to play Joker in the old Adam West Batman TV show and movie, so they simply covered it up with white makeup and hoped for the best.

3. “Coulton’s Zendrum!” - If you’ve seen JoCo play “Mr. Fancy Pants” in the last few years, you know what we’re talking about. If you haven’t, seek enlightenment.

OK, I’ll make this quick. We’ve been on a bit of a Boba Fett kick around our house. Still, when Hasbro asked me if I wanted to see the new Boba Fett Electronic Helmet, it didn’t take long to decide I wanted to take a closer look. The helmet, suitable for both kids and adults, is very realistic in both its paint scheme and battle scarring. It comes equipped with two buttons, one for sound effects and one for phrases. Swing the antennae down and the available phrases change. All told, there are nearly two dozen phrases from your favorite companion from Kamino. And it arrives just in time for Halloween when young bounty hunters can go door-to-door to demand “Trick-or-Face-Disintegration.” For more details, check out the video.

My son and I built the Lego Slave I this weekend. It was a quick build — we finished in a couple of hours — and we were impressed by the model’s detail, but the best part was the brick of Han Solo encased in carbonite! Check out the video for more detail.

The quality of a movie depends a great deal on its main characters, of course. A movie with uninteresting or implausible protagonists might still do well at the box office — just ask Michael Bay — but it will never be much more than an empty shell. What elevates a movie to greatness, though, is often the quality of its secondary characters.

There are two kinds of minor characters: the kind that are there for a good portion of the movie and help the plot along its way; and the kind that appear in only one or two scenes but manage to make themselves instantly memorable. The first kind of part has to be carefully apportioned throughout the film lest they become so interesting they distract from the main characters, but you’re often just enough intrigued by them that you’d like to see more. The second, since they’re only there for a brief time, often run away with their scenes, distracting completely from the main characters but only for a minute.

Here is our list of the top ten, of both kinds, from geeky movies, TV shows, etc. Enjoy!

10. Winston “The” Wolf from Pulp Fiction – Being played by Harvey Keitel is a good start, of course, since he tends to be memorable no matter what his part. But this is a guy who goes to black-tie cocktail parties at 8:00 in the morning but will readily leave them to clean up a messy situation. Plus, just the mention of his name is enough to get Samuel L. Jackson to clam up, and that’s just badass.

9. Bard the Bowman from The Hobbit – OK, so he’s not in a movie yet, unless you count Ralph Bakshi’s version, which we don’t. But he’s so intriguing: you get a few glimpses of him while Bilbo and the dwarves are in Lake-town, but then he becomes incredibly important later. Suddenly he’s the dragon-slayer and the rightful king of Dale, and, if you’re anything like me, you’re left wondering about the parts of his story you’re not told.

8. Wedge Antilles from the original Star Wars trilogy – You never find out much about him, but there has to be more to him: he’s the only minor character who regularly goes into perilous situations to survive all three movies! The assault on the first Death Star is survived only by Luke, Han, Chewie, an anonymous Y-wing pilot, and Wedge. And then he survives the assault on the second Death Star, too! There has to be more to this guy, but we never find out what that might be.

7. Bad Horse from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog – He appears on screen for only a few brief seconds at the very end (just enough, really, to show that he is in fact meant to be an actual horse), but his influence affects the whole story. It’s his approval as the leader of the Evil League of Evil that Dr. Horrible covets, and his threat on Dr. Horrible’s life that sets the stage for the tragic climax of the story. We hope to see more of Bad Horse in the sequel, and maybe even to hear his “terrible death whinny.”

6. Jordan Cochran from Real Genius – Michelle Meyrink deserves most of the credit for Jordan’s appearance on this list: she managed to elevate a character who could so easily have been a boring stereotype into one of he most memorable parts of a great movie. Who can forget her coming into the men’s room and talking with barely a pause to breathe while Mitch tries to pee? It was easy to see why Mitch liked her so much, though it did always seem a bit skeevy that the fact that he was only 15 was never brought up as an issue with their relationship.

We geeks are easily distracted by awesome things that appear in unexpected places. That’s why we love Easter eggs in movies. But it also means that, in the middle of last-minute shopping for a Mother’s Day gift for our wives at Williams-Sonoma, our attention can be thoroughly diverted by sets of Star Wars cookie cutters and pancake molds.

Since going into Williams-Sonoma too often can be dangerous for my wallet, and since these sets are exclusive to the chain, I had absolutely no idea they existed until the Star Wars logo caught my eye from across the store yesterday. My kids were with me, and they tried to convince me to get them, but I didn’t think it was appropriate to buy something so obviously for me and the kids when we were shopping for their mother. Besides, they had a lot of them, so I’m sure they’ll still be there in a day or two, when my willpower gives out.

Each set is $19.95, which is a bit steep, but it’s Williams-Sonoma, so that’s to be expected. The cookie cutters come in a set of four: Darth Vader, Boba Fett, a Stormtrooper, and Yoda. The pancake molds come in a set of three: the same as the cookie cutters, except no Boba Fett. The cookie cutters are particularly awesome, since they not only cut but also stamp, making indentations in the top of the cookie for the “facial” features of the character. This means you can get away without further decorating them if you don’t feel like it, and makes it much easier to decorate them if you do. I have to say I’m glad they didn’t pick any characters with a (visible) human face, since those seem more likely look cheesy, creepy, or both in baked goods or breakfast treats.

Imagine the fun you can have with the results: Pretend your mouth is the Great Pit of Carkoon (as you eat a Boba Fett cookie, of course), or say “I find your lack of maple syrup disturbing!” The possibilities are endless.

In “Death Trap,” Boba Fett sneaks aboard a Jedi cruiser in order to wreak havoc. Maybe’s he’s mad that Mace Windu killed his father . . . maybe he’s mad that the Jedi created an army of clones just like him. Fett is voiced by Daniel Logan, who also played Boba in Attack of the Clones. Logan comments:

He’s with the clones, but he’s not one of them . . . He’s special; that’s how he sees it. And now he’s alone. He had a relationship with Jango, like a father and son. None of the other clones had that connection; they’re just soldiers, and now they’re standing in his way. And that’s one of things that makes Boba so cool, as a kid and as a bounty hunter – nothing stands in his way.
“This is a key time for Boba. . . . When we saw him in Episode II, he was just a kid. But he watched his dad get killed by Mace Windu, and now he wants revenge against the Jedi. He’s bitter and angry. A lot’s changed for Boba, even though not much time’s passed for him. I rewatched Attack of the Clones a few times to see how my voice sounded back then – I’m older and it’s changed a little, you know? I wanted to stay true to that original sound. But, he’s darker and more serious now – and he definitely has an edge.

“It was so hard keeping quiet . . . We didn’t want to ruin the surprise that Boba was coming back, so I couldn’t say anything! It’s been a year [since the initial voice recording session], and people would ask me if I was going to appear in The Clone Wars – if Boba was coming back. And I couldn’t say anything! I was so excited, and I wanted to shout it, you know? But I had to be quiet. Now that I can finally talk about it, I’m bursting. I saw the finished episodes a few weeks ago, and it just looks so cool – worth the wait! Fans are going to be excited to see how the character develops – but we don’t give too much away. Boba’s a mystery; that’s what’s cool about him.

Here’s the clip:

“Death Trap” premieres at 9pm on Friday, April 23, on The Cartoon Network.